Three decades after changed back-pass rule, football clamps down on clingy goalkeepers

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker (Reuters/File Photo)

It has become an all-too-familiar sight in top-flight football matches across the globe. The goalkeeper gets the ball, then theatrically falls to the ground smothering it. They then get up, bounce the ball umpteen times before finally getting rid of it. According to the present-day rules, any goalkeeper holding on to the ball longer than six seconds is supposed to be penalised with an indirect free-kick for the opposing team.

But organising an indirect free-kick is a time-consuming exercise and, mostly, referees have turned a blind eye to even flagrant infringements. In a Brighton- Manchester United match earlier this season, Jason Steele held on to the ball for up to 14 seconds as Brighton protected a lead. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have also routinely been criticised for such gamesmanship.

From next season, it won’t be possible. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is set to introduce a new rule for next season, with goalkeepers who hold on to the ball longer than eight seconds conceding a corner. The officials will be encouraged to count down manually from five just so the goalkeepers know how close to the line they are.

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The new recommendations have been trialed in matches in Italy and Malta and also in England’s Premier League 2 – the competition for reserve teams. According to IFB, only four goalkeepers were sanctioned during the trial which spanned many months and hundreds of matches. FIFA have already said the new rule will be implemented during the 32-team Club World Cup in the USA this summer.

Football and time-wasting are no strangers. Unlike American sports where the clock is stopped when the ball is out of bounds, football relies on referees using their discretion to add on time for stoppages. Prior to 1992, every team’s favourite time-wasting tactic was the back pass to the goalkeeper. After Italia ’90, when the average goals per game dipped to 2.21 – it was 2.81 in Spain 1982 and 2.54 in Mexico four years later – and Euro 1992, when it was a paltry 2.13, football’s administrators decided that enough was enough.

The goalkeeper picking up the back pass was banned, and the World Cup in the USA in 1994 saw 2.71 goals on average. Now, despite so many top teams playing with an aggressive press and goalkeepers who are comfortable with ball at their feet, the most common form of time-wasting is the keeper holding on to the ball till the referee has to contemplate a yellow card.

Given how much importance many teams give to set-piece situations now – Arsenal have a justified reputation for their prowess – teams will definitely take the new rule, and the consequences of having to defend a corner, seriously.